This time of year there is always lots of shooting around us. Most of it is pheasants, and apparently the surplus sometimes ends up being buried. In Holland, where I came from, pheasant was a great luxury so this has always amazed me.
Now is the moment to buy game; you can always freeze it if you don't want it straight away. Rabbit of course can be shot all year round and is cheap - and very healthy. Both rabbits and game birds are far better for you (and nicer!) than any so-called 'free-range' chicken from the shops.
For recipes, see for instance:www.gametoeat.co.uk/http://www.ruralsports.co.uk/recipe-ideas-category.htmlwww.chanctonburygame.co.uk

I've had very nice pheasant and partridge this year, from the freezer. Got it from the lovely Woodlands Organic Farm - www.woodlandsfarm.co.uk who supply veg boxes and lots of other stuff, near Boston.

I have in the past felt under-confident about cooking game but last few times I've cooked it, has been delicious, though I say so myself!

We had season first ones last nights dinner
And very nice it was too...unfortunately our birds were bit battered so had to selectively chop all the best bits. Made pot of pheasant korma...YUM!
All the 'trimmings' I boiled with some chopped carrots for the dog..and she loves it. Usually she is very picky eater and I have to really 'tease' and encourage her to tuck in, but given some warm pheasant and carrots and soaking all the cooking water into dog biccies and now she can't wait until next meal. This morning I found her sitting next to her bowl, waiting for me to serve her rumbling tummy..

This was my garage just before Christmas last year. We have a friend who's a beater and he just brings us what ever the shoot would otherwise discard. Crazy isn't it? From our point of view it's effectively free, the only thing we like to do is to provide a couple of large Game Pies to the shoot each year.

Now, all I need to do is get the same sort of arrangement for Venison....

The main road kill season is after the shooting season I find. At present they are a bit jumpy and run. Those that survive the shooting are too full of themselves for being so clever, and also the cock pheasants are keen to show the hens how brave they are. Sadly, they always lose against a car.